rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Because of my film background, normally I select ISO; then I select the perspective {most important part of the scene}, framing, and either shutter speed to control motion or aperture to control DOF. I let automation finish the job because I want an accurate record of the scene, and in most cases the camera knows how to do that. With the progress of technology, and ever higher useable ISO levels, I'm experimenting with what Pretax calls TAv mode - I get to select both shutter speed and aperture, and the camera finds an ISO level which makes that work.

anotherview Loc: California

Agree with the voice of experience: "The first thing I suggested was start with automatic and concentrate on composition."

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Yes, as others have explained. Having learned photography many decades ago, I know how to use my camera in many modes today that I find useful (others not). Actually never on fully Automatic, but I usually shoot in Aperture Priority or Fully Manual, and Shutter Priority for some action shots. Some of my cameras have really crazy other modes like what seems to be Sensitivity Priority (Auto ISO) and ISO Priority. But I never use those, I just find them confusing. And I never touch the Green Fully Automatic mode, makes no sense to me.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Wow, a old film photographer, OK, I can buy that. I'm just not as trusting. I'm usually at ISO 200 in "Pentax" Av, or Manual with some vintage lenses. And for some action shots, Tv. So someone else noticed those strange Pentax modes of Sv and TAv. I'm used to Av and Manual from my Pentax (film) K2 DMD camera. And I will admit my K2 DMD in AE is as accurate as my Gossen Luna Pro meter was in most cases and no doubt my K-3 is more accurate! Even in AE on any camera I watch all the parameters like a hawk.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It isn't quite that simple a question.

Every single setting and range of settings on a digital camera has a purpose. Whether your photography can or will benefit from that is up to you, your knowledge, testing, and experience, and need.

At the core, there are only four or five things that matter — ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Zoom, and Focus. Those of us who learned photography in the 1960s and '70s can set the camera to save raw files, control those five things Manually, then worry about the details in the office — in post-production — using software on our computers. OR, we can choose to do PRE-Processing at the camera, by setting all the JPEG processing control menus, performing custom white balance, and producing usable files at the point of capture.

HOWEVER, in addition to Manual mode, your camera has has exposure modes variously known as Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, FULL Auto, intelligent Auto and iA+, etc. Each of these modes has a very specific set of use cases surrounding it. Each is appropriate for some situations, and not for others (see your user's manual, or a good book on digital photography!).

The camera probably has several focus modes as well. You can focus manually, or you can use other modes that are unique to each brand and model of camera (see your user's manual!).

The camera probably has quite a number of JPEG processor controls for Picture Style, Contrast, Saturation, Hue, Sharpness, Color Tone, ICC Profile, White Balance... These control the "look" of the preview image that is stuffed into every raw file and used to display an image on the camera's LCD or OLED screen after exposure. They also control the "look" of all JPEG files saved at the camera.

PROgram is often used for "run and gun" work, where the photographer is moving from area to area under changing lighting conditions, and would find manual exposure control to be very difficult or inaccurate.

Aperture Priority lets you FIX the amount of depth of field in a scene. Shutter speed (and possibly ISO) float according to the light.

Shutter Priority lets you FIX the shutter speed to stop (or blur) action. Aperture (and possibly ISO) float according to the light.

Manual Mode with Auto ISO lets you fix BOTH shutter speed and aperture, and let ISO float according to the light. Maybe you want to control both depth of field AND action stopping ability.

FULL Auto is not a popular mode among knowledgeable photographers, because it is unpredictable. It is different from brand to brand, so I'm going to ignore it.

iA and iA+ (intelligent Auto modes) use algorithms to chart exposure, white balance, and other quality parameters. They are remarkably useful when recording images in raw mode. iA+ lets you manually control certain aspects of exposure, while iA does everything for you.

So... to answer your question YES, you can improve certain aspects of your photography by learning to use the controls on your camera. It is all ABOUT control... fine tuning the output to your taste.

Camera automation has made getting a decent image rather easy. But manual control lets you decide (REQUIRES you to decide) how an image should look. In some situations, it is the ONLY way to get the image you want. In other situations, it is IN THE WAY of getting what you want.

It isn't an "either/or" choice. It is a, "When do I do which?" choice. Correctness is relative to what you are photographing and how you want it to appear.

DeanS Loc: Capital City area of North Carolina

There is a learning curve here. In shooting in Auto, the camera chooses every setting. As you progress,you will discover that you can achieve diff results by shooting P, moving to A, or S. The final step will be to master full manual. This step will not come quickly or easily. Be patient.

However, if what you get in full auto is satisfactory, stick with it. You will, however, be severely limited in what you can accomplish.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

While automatic works very well for many situations, there are special cases for which we know in advance it won't. As you review shots taken in automatic you will begin to recognise them. As an example, stopping action, backlit subjects, snow scenes, moon shots all require changing settings from what auto would choose. I generally revert to "S" or "A" modes for them, but full control requires "M".

I shoot flash with the camera in "M", and the flash in auto (ETTL). I use "S" when shutter speed is critical as in stopping or blurring action. I use "A" when aperture is critical such as for max (landscape) or min (portraits for bokeh) depth of field.

anotherview Loc: California

Nice rundown of the various modes of shooting depending on intention and conditions. The kind of photography one does also dictates which camera and lens settings to use.

SierraP Loc: Eastern Sierras

Food for thought: Why buy a modern camera when you only use 1950 technology (ie MANUAL). I certainly don't feel smarter than the tens of thousands of engineering hours and millions of dollars spent by the camera companies developing marvellous updates to cameras. My first camera had a threaded lens mount and no built-in light meter. I wouldn't in any way, shape, or form wish to go back to "the good old days". To get an action shot, you had to anticipate something that hadn't or might not happen. 1/1000 of a second was lighting speed back then, if you had film that could handle it. If you are shooting static subjects and feel smarter than the camera, live it up. I for one will take advantage of every technical update available. Composition, the subject matter is an entirely different matter. In almost 70 years of shooting photographs, I have yet had anyone look at a picture and ask, " was that shot on Manual or Automatic." and frankly when I look at a shot I can't tell either. So I believe it really doesn't matter how you shoot, automatic/ manual or standing on your head, it is the final picture that counts. Amen.

Boris Ekner Loc: From Sweden, living in Guatemala

Idea...
Set your camera in Auto.
Set your ISO in full auto, i.e. no restrictions.
Set white balance to auto.

Note the cameras aperture, shutter speed, and ISO values on a piece of paper.

Now,
1. with the camera in full manual mode set it up with the aperture, shutter, and ISO values from your notes. Keep white balance in auto for now.

2.
Change one setting value at the time. Take test shots of the same object to see and compare the effect the different values has.

3.
When your happy with your result - change the white balance to see what it does to your picture.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

I still have one of your posts from over a year ago where you gave a great description of the situations where each mode would be appropriate! I copied it and still refer to it at times. I think it is important to learn them all, even if later a person settles into one to use all or most of the time. Tools don't have to be used, but sure come in handy when you need them. Your advice is always very useful.

There are so many things that we could tell a new photographer, but in the end it is important to study and practice. Study the manual, study what the camera can do, then go out and experiment with everything to truly understand what each function can do.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

There is nothing wrong with using Auto while your learn about the camera. But, assuming you are using the "super" Auto setting (little green camera on it's mode dial), you need to be aware that's automating a whole lot more than just exposure... It's also dictating how your camera's autofocus works, deciding for you whether or not to use the flash, even limiting the types of image files the camera will save to the memory card, and more!

Other settings on that dial are similarly automated, but "tweaked" for different types of photography. Those are the "preset" icons on that dial... a "running man" for sports, "mountain" for scenic, "flower" for macro/close-up, etc. Those are some programmers ideas of the settings you should use for various types of photography. They also automate and dictate more than just exposure.

One other setting on the dial is "Guided".... this provides a "wizard" on the rear LCD screen of the camera to assist you making manual settings yourself (I haven't used the Nikon version of this, so cannot say how good and helpful it is.... you'll have to experiment).

Four other settings on that dial are what more experienced photographers tend to use (I don't recall using any of the above on any camera in decades). "M". "A", "S" and "P" control exposure, but leave other settings of the camera (autofocus, flash, file type, etc.) up to the photographer.

Three of those still provide auto exposure, utilizing the metering system built into the camera. "P" is "Program" auto exposure, where you can set the ISO (sensitivity of the image sensor) and the camera chooses what it thinks are appropriate shutter speed and lens aperture. "S" is "shutter priority" auto exposure, where you choose ISO and shutter speed and the camera chooses what it thinks is an accurate aperture. You might use this when photographing fast moving subjects where you need to freeze the movement with a fast shutter speed... or to deliberately blur movement by using a slow shutter speed. "A" is "aperture priority" auto exposure where you choose the ISO and the size of the lens aperture, while the camera selects what it thinks is a correct shutter speed. You might select this mode when you want to use a small aperture to render great depth of field, making an image sharp from near to far.... or to use a large aperture that will render shallow DoF, blurring down distracting backgrounds or foregrounds in images.

Important to use with all the above is a feature called Exposure Compensation. Your camera's metering system reads the light being reflected back at it off the subject you're photographing. As a result, tonality of the subject influences the meter reading, which in turn can skew the exposure whenever you're using any of the auto exposure modes (AFAIK, Exposure Compensation IS NOT possible in any of the above "super auto" and "preset" modes. It is only possible to use it with P, S and A modes.). Your camera doesn't know what you're pointing it at. All it can do is assume everything is "average" tonality and expose accordingly. But what if you are photographing a bride in a white gown in a snow scene... way brighter than "average"? The camera will tend to under-expose... so some + Exposure Compensation is used to correct the exposure. Conversely, if you were photographing a black bear in a coal mine the camera will want to over-expose and some - E.C. would be needed. (You'll have to look up how to do Exposure Compensation on your particular camera.)

The only actual manual mode on your camera is "M". With it you get to make all the exposure decisions.

Your camera probably also has "Auto ISO". I would recommend you leave that off with most of the above, only ever use it with "M". When you do this, it's actually no longer "manual". You'll be able to select the shutter speed AND the aperture, but the camera will be setting the ISO (sensitivity of the imaging sensor) automatically. So this is actually yet another form of auto exposure. As such, you may need to apply Exposure Compensation in certain situations (I don't know if this is possible with your camera... most recent models with Auto ISO you can... but some older models it wasn't possible, making Auto ISO less usable.)

Use "super" Auto for now and have fun with your camera. Eventually you may find that you want to achieve other effects and take more control over how your images look, the way your AF works, the types of files the camera saves, etc... and to do so you'll need to explore the other possibilities. Note: Some folks will rigidly tell you that "manual" is the only mode to use. I think that's utter B.S. Besides, some of them are actually using M with Auto ISO, so aren't really "shooting manual only" and are actually kidding themselves... I feel it's important to learn to use that as well all the other auto exposure modes: P, S, and A. There are times and places where each is useful and you'll be a better photographer knowing how they work and when to use them.

I HIGHLY recommend Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure" if and when you are ready to explore more of what your camera can do. It's a great read and highly informative, with a lot more detail than we could ever provide on a forum. I also recommend you get one of the guide books specific to your D3200, which will expand upon and help with further explanations of what you find in the user manual that was provided with the camera. You can find both these on Amazon (and elsewhere) for relatively little money. They'll be the best investment in your photography you'll ever make, once you're ready to move beyond the most highly automated modes.

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-Fourth-Photographs-Camera-ebook/dp/B0104EOJSK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1521390001&sr=8-2&keywords=understanding+exposure
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=nikon+D3200

Note: I'm familiar with the Magic Lantern and David Busch's guide books and can recommend them. Some folks like them, but I'm personally not a fan of the "Dummies" series. Other guides for D3200 I see available I'm not familiar with, but they may be good. You'll have to check out buyer reviews to decide.

EDIT: A previous post mentions White Balance and that's another thing you can adjust... or leave on auto. I use different cameras, but find that auto works well outdoors in broad sunlight and on overcast days. It also works well for me when I'm using flash. I like it less in shadows or indoors under tungsten and some other types of lighting, so may set a Custom WB in those cases.

There also may be various "tweaks" you can do to your images... changing color saturation, contrast, etc. Also applying noise reduction and sharpening.

HOWEVER, I always shoot RAW files (if/when I need JPEGs, I shoot RAW + JPEG). None of the above is "set" when shooting RAW (which can only be done in M, S, A and P modes). I can easily change WB, saturation, contrast and apply noise reduction and sharpening while viewing the image much larger and more realistically on my desktop computer's calibrated, graphics quality monitor.

This may be a lot more work than you want to do right now (or ever!)... and that's fine. But this workflow from the moment the shutter clicks to the image finished for it's intended purpose gives me a great deal of flexibility to fine tune and optimize my images, compared to using the highly automated modes and only being able to save JPEGs.

cws3

There are reasons for all the settings. If a camera does a great job on auto, the camera manufacturer has done their job for people who want to shoot in that mode part or all of the time. Learning to use manual mode can be challenging; it introduces a number of variables you’re trying to control at the same time. Another approach is to first learn to use aperture mode and shutter priority mode. There are definite benefits from those modes such as in aperture - controlling how much of the photo is in focus or in shutter speed - controlling the feel in a photo by freezing motion or blurring it. I know this is a simple response; I’m no expert, just someone who enjoys the process of figuring out how to capture the scene i’m seeing.

ecurb1105

Yes

anotherview Loc: California

Strong, worthy opinion from experience.

Excuse me if I have to chuckle at this part of your opinion: "In almost 70 years of shooting photographs, I have yet had anyone look at a picture and ask, 'was that shot on Manual or Automatic.'"

Your words mirror my view, too.

That said, I have shot landscape pictures in Manual mode once I found camera and lens settings that produced a good exposure in camera.

Portrait photographers in a studio setting may also benefit from Manual mode once lighting conditions have been established.

I offer these exceptions while taking nothing away from your statement. You may agree with me.